How It Was Made: THE COMMODORE 64 factory tour

Using machine learning on some scenes (see pinned comment & description) we’ve digitally remastered the only known, low-quality footage of the Commodore 64 & 6502 factory production to better show how the world’s bestselling computer was made! Check out - great PCBs from just $5! 🙏 Become a supporter: 🎧 Music: 👕 Merch: 🗨️ Website: ℹ️ HOW “How It Was Made“ WAS MADE: 📼 You may have seen the original very low quality German VHS factory tour of MOS and Commodore that’s been around for years (). Sadly a higher quality version never showed up. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while but the technology only recently got to an acceptable level. It’s far from perfect, and the machine learning sharpening can look a little odd occasionally, but I hope you agree that it’s better and more palatable than the original, all just in time for the C64’s 40th anniversary. I plan future versions as the tech improves. Here’s how I made this one: 🔈 AUDIO: I created a file of the German captions and translated it to English then re-synced that to the footage, and reworded it where needed. I also added back in all the sound effects from a foley library because the original German audio was muted. 📺 VIDEO: I used Topaz Labs machine learning video enhancer () to create 5 versions of the footage. Some levels of restoration can make the people look cartoony, so by using different levels, I was able to cut each shot to its most natural look and ensure I felt it really was an improvement over the original. Occasionally I use the original shot with only upscaling to 4K. Some shots actually use different levels on different parts of the same frame using masks, so you might see sharp C64 motherboards, but the worker’s more natural less reworked face above them, all in one image. There are qutie extreme flashing colours in the original. I placed a duplicate of each shot above the original, made it 50% transparent, and offset it by 1 frame. This reduces the flashing producing a more uniform effect. Sadly some flashing remains, but removing this further would have led to ghosting of movement. Next everything was run through a MPEG compression artefact reducing algorithm. I then trimmed the flickering edges of the image off and extended it to near widescreen using a blurred enlarged version to fill the sides. I also cut out about 7 minutes of unnecessary stock footage, corporate marketing, & overly long shots to again make things more watchable. Aside from that there was colour balancing, brightening, and sharpening where possible. Enhance! 🌆 THUMBNAIL: This too is a remastered black and white low-res shot, with faces enhanced using Remini, colourized, and some other little tricks to bring it more to life! SAUCES & CHEERS • • M TV Video • CTV • Discovery Channel • Science Channel • How It’s Made team • Cem Tezcan: • • • Nightfallcrew • Tim and Keegan Morgan • Woxy • Wikipedia & Wikimedia Commons • The Internet Archive • Gardenside Prods. & Clue Detectives & Paradise Radio • Special thanks to Ladyfractic & the Puppyfractics! • All other media featured is marked as public domain on Google Images or used with written permission or shown under fair use law. Every attempt was made to contact others before including content. Rarely things get forgotten in the excitement so don’t hesitate to let me know if so & I’ll put it right. • 🛠 Get the tools I use*: 🇺🇸 | 🇬🇧 MENU 0:00 Intro & context 3:39 How silicon is made 4:51 Circuit blueprints 8:26 Circuit production 11:49 Chip testing & cutting 13:34 Finishing the chip 15:28 C64 PCB assembly 17:17 C64 assembly & testing 20:49 Packaging & finish CORRECTIONS 7:16 To clarify, the C64 itself uses the 6510 processor; a variant of the legendary 6502 processor mentioned. And yes I know it’s silicon not silicone; slip of the tongu I mean tongue. 11:01 The diffusion furnace does not dope the wafer. It grows a layer. The implant tool dopes the layer. SOME INGREDIENTS BY • - website design • - some graphics • - colour palette cleanser • - some 3D models ©️ All music & content Copyright & ™️ Retro Recipes LLC 1988-2022. *Some links may offer some peanuts to support this retrochannel but all opinions are 100% unbiased. #retrocomputing #computerscience #computer